Sunday, February 17, 2013

Mating season is here...

Looks like the Grey Squirrel mating season is well upon us. I have seen several squirrels following females around for at least 3-4 weeks. They have an interesting courting ritual that is not too dissimilar from what some humans do :-) When the male approaches the female she will hop away just out of his reach and continue with this little game for several hours to several days. Sometimes she will challenge him, climbing higher and higher in a tree, going out further and further onto ever smaller limbs. Once he has proven himself to her satisfaction, she will finally allow him to mate with her. I was lucky enough to be out and about taking photos when some of this hilarity was happening.

Two male squirrels approach a female. The more dominant male squirrel whacks his competition on the head with a forepaw which startles the female who jumps straight up in the air!

The female (far right) has finally had enough of the two males and scampers off with the two of them in hot pursuit.